The Arsalan Masood Story: From First Blog to 500+ Web Projects

I’m Arsalan Masood, a digital entrepreneur who builds, grows, buys and sells websites. I’ve been working with WordPress, blogging, digital marketing and SEO since 2006. Over the years I’ve been involved in more than 500 web projects of every size, from small blogs and niche sites to large content websites and online businesses, and I’ve sold or brokered website deals worth more than $300,000 in total. This is the Arsalan Masood story: how a part-time passion became my profession, the mistakes I made along the way, and what I learned that might help you.

Want the short version of who I am and what this site offers? See the about page. This page is the longer story.

Where the Arsalan Masood story starts: work, study and the web

I started working at 18, while I was still studying. I did many small jobs: I worked on contracts for the government health department as a polio vaccinator, I worked 9-to-5 office jobs, and I worked as a computer operator in the shoe industry. None of them were glamorous, but each one taught me something about responsibility, people and hard work.

Through all of it, the web was my passion. From 2006 I was building small blogs and company portfolio websites for small businesses, learning WordPress, design and marketing as I went. I studied Business Administration and specialised in Marketing, which gave me the business side to go with the technical skills.

2014 to 2016: the blog that changed everything

In 2014 I built a blog called TopInteresting, about interesting things from around the world. I wrote hundreds of articles on current affairs and fascinating facts, and grew its social media accounts to 500,000 followers. That blog was my real training ground: it took my writing, WordPress design, social media marketing and SEO skills to a professional level.

In 2016, two years after starting it, I listed TopInteresting on Flippa, an online marketplace for buying and selling websites, using an old account I’d almost forgotten about. Within a few days I had a buyer, and the blog sold for $2,000. It wasn’t a fortune, but it changed how I saw websites: not just as projects, but as assets that can be built, improved and sold.

From one sale to 500+ web projects

That first sale was the start of a new skill. I began building websites in different niches with the plan of selling them, and over time the work grew far beyond blogs. Today my experience covers more than 500 web projects of every type and size:

• Blogs and content sites earning from ads and affiliate links.
• Niche websites built around one topic or audience.
• Larger content websites and online businesses with established traffic and income.
• Business and portfolio websites built for clients.

Across buying, building, selling and brokering, the website deals I’ve been part of add up to more than $300,000. Each one taught me something about what makes a site valuable: steady traffic from more than one source, honest and clean records, income that doesn’t depend on a single program, and content that keeps working for readers. Our guide on how to flip websites for profit sets out the whole process.

Partnerships: what I learned the hard way

Not every lesson came from success. In 2017, before launching this blog, I started an advertising agency with a friend who was a talented graphic designer. Together we served companies with design, printing, digital marketing and other online needs. The work was good, but over time I realised our skills were pulling us in different directions: my friend’s strength was design, and mine was building and growing websites. In 2021 we ended the partnership and I went back to focusing fully on my own path.

After the partnership ended, I built my own company, A Digital Motive, on my own terms. Today it’s my main company and the parent company behind all my work.

The partnership taught me the most important rule of working with partners: be completely clear from the start about what each person expects to give, what each expects to get, and what happens if you go separate ways. I’ve written the full lessons in my guide on how to choose a business partner.

2018: starting this site

When people asked what I did, I’d say I help people build their online businesses. The next question was almost always, “Can you help us with…?” In 2018 I launched arsalanmasood.com to answer those questions for everyone at once: a place to share practical, tested knowledge about WordPress, SEO, blogging, making money online and buying and selling websites.

I also started it because I was tired of the routine many people know too well: Sunday-evening dread, Monday-morning frustration, and a week spent waiting for Friday. I wanted to build something of my own, and I wanted to show others that the internet offers real opportunities for people willing to learn and work steadily. Not overnight, and not without mistakes, but real.

What I do today

• This site: guides, honest reviews and checked deals for bloggers, website owners and online earners.
• A Digital Motive: my agency (“Fastest and Most Scalable Digital Solutions”): web design and development, website management, ecommerce, SEO and content, social media and paid ads, and website flipping consultancy.
• DigiFlippers: a marketplace I founded for buying and selling websites, domains, SaaS, apps, YouTube channels and other digital assets.
• My courses: step-by-step video courses on WordPress, SEO, digital marketing and blog flipping at learn.arsalanmasood.com.

Alongside these, I keep building and improving my own web projects, because the best way to give useful advice is to keep doing the work.

How I work

• I test before I recommend. Reviews and guides come from using the tools and methods on real sites.
• I’m honest about money. Some links on this site are affiliate links; they’re disclosed and never change a rating or a recommendation.
• I keep things up to date. Prices, plans and rules change, so guides and deals are checked and re-dated.
• I’ll tell you straight if I think an approach won’t work, because that saves you time and money.

Why websites, and why I still love the work

What keeps me interested after twenty years is that a website is one of the few things you can build alone, from almost nothing, that can keep serving people and earning while you sleep. It can start as a hobby, become a business, and later become an asset someone else is glad to buy. Every project is different: a new audience to understand, a new problem to solve, a new way to make something useful. That variety is why I keep building, and why I enjoy helping others do the same.

A few things about me

I’m self-taught in most of what I do, and I still learn something new almost every week. I’m a night owl: some of my best work happens late. I read a lot about entrepreneurship, personal development and technology. I’m an introvert at heart who learned to be comfortable meeting people and speaking in public, and I enjoy mentoring people who are starting where I once started. Our guide to becoming a thought leader as a blogger covers how a shy person can build a public reputation.

What I’ve learned in 20 years online

1. Start before you feel ready. My first sites weren’t perfect, but they taught me more than any plan.
2. Treat websites as assets. Build them as if you might sell them one day: clean records, steady traffic, diverse income.
3. Skills compound. Writing, SEO, design and marketing each make the others more valuable.
4. Clarity saves partnerships, and friendships too.
5. Honesty is the long game. Readers, buyers and clients come back to people they trust.

Where to start on this site

Everything I’ve learned is organised around the journey most website owners go through. Pick the stage you’re at:

• Starting out: choose a platform and a topic, then set up your site. Start with how to start a blog and our guide to choosing a niche.
• Growing traffic: learn the basics of search and keywords with SEO basics and keyword research.
• Earning: compare the realistic income options in how to earn money from a blog.
• Buying and selling: learn how sites are valued and sold, and where, in where to buy or sell websites.

Each guide links to the next step, so you can follow the path at your own pace and come back whenever you need the next piece.

How I can help you

If you’re starting a blog, growing a website or thinking about buying or selling one, start with the free guides on this site. Our guide on how to start a blog is a good first step, and the flipping guides explain how to value, buy and sell sites. If you’d like help with your own project, see work with me, or get in touch through the contact page. I’ve been where you are, I started from scratch, and I made plenty of mistakes before I found my way. I’d be glad to help you avoid some of them.